The Nose: The spin machine pays well, if you’re into that sort of thing. Plus, primary pugilism!

Ah, spring — the Sniff loves the smell of the political public relations merry-go-round, ceaselessly greased by the sweat of important egos.

Think of the economy! Without the aching need for public affirmation and peasant management, the incredible shrinking news industry couldn’t serve as the farm team for various entities determined to whitewash useful information and feed it back to the farm team, sans dirt.

Oh, you want proof? Consider the wreckage of The Methanol Refinery That Ate Tacoma, or could have, if its proponents at Northwest Innovation Works had opted for communication instead of indifferent silence.

It seems the NWIW team has hired a new mouthpiece — oh sorry, vice president for communications and external affairs — after dumping the old outfit.

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“Their contract ran out and I will be looking comprehensively at our needs going forward,” an emailed note informed your fishwrap this week.

What a development. As everyone in the news biz knows, corporate communications departments were created for the specific purpose of identifying all the people who need to be kept out of the loop.

As everyone in the news biz knows, corporate communications departments were created for the specific purpose of identifying all the people who need to be kept out of the loop.

While NWIW beefs up its say-nothing operation regarding a dead project, your Port of Tacoma won’t be idle. Battered and buffeted by anti-methanol activists who now have their sights on the proposed Natural Gas Storage Tank That Ate Tacoma, the port is seeking applicants for a community relations manager.

The job, among other things, involves developing “strategies to address public concerns,” also known as reporting to the communications director, while taking home somewhere between $5,900 and $7,600 per month.

Quite the gig — but aspiring flacks have yet another choice: working for your prosecutor, Mark Lindquist, as a communication and public information coordinator.

The job posting notes that the prosecutor’s office has “218 staff, including a large number of deputy prosecutors.” Amazing — the Sniff didn’t realize other people worked there.

The position, posted on Pierce County’s employment website, pays between $65,000 and $83,000 annually; not quite as lucrative as that port job, but who could resist unmentioned duties such as endless trawling for favorable media coverage, not to mention selfie coordination?

The job posting notes that the prosecutor’s office has “218 staff, including a large number of deputy prosecutors.” Amazing — the Sniff didn’t realize other people worked there. Close reading of the hundreds of press releases pumped out by the Zen Master’s office gives the distinct impression of just one lawyer on the payroll.

#TinaDPrimary? Boy, oh boy, the aroma of scorched political earth started wafting from the race for Washington secretary of state this week.

The race for that office, historically marked by bloody wars between Republican Secretary-for-Life Ralph Munro and a quadrennial Democratic corpse, is shaping up to be even nastier than usual this year. (OK, full disclosure — the SOS race is almost never nasty, but we had to get your attention).

That outcome, following the Indiana presidential primary, means Washington’s GOP primary, set for May 24, loses most of its relevance. The same is true for the Democratic primary on the same day, which had no relevance to begin with, since state Dem leaders decided long ago to ignore the results in favor of caucuses, because they’re all about inclusiveness, or so we heard.

At any rate, Podlodowski (slogan: “Every voice, every vote”) jumped into Twitterland, saying the GOP contest ought to be canceled, since in her view, it’s nothing but a “vanity primary,” which feels like an oxymoron, but whatever. Wyman replied that the ballots were already sent, and it’s too late to cancel the election. Podlodowski disagreed.

In the midst of her bomb-throwing, reporters from The Seattle Times and your fishwrap jumped in, asking whether Podlodowski favored the Dem caucus system or an actual primary.

The question had a bit of heat attached, since Dems held caucuses in late March that were about as much fun as a chaperoned field trip and four times as long. Widespread howls of outrage followed, along with stern, game-changing editorials from your fishwrap, among others.

Thus, Podlodowski’s response to the question — caucus or primary — had more than the usual gravity. You’d think a candidate for state elections boss would have a prime-time answer ready (note first item in today’s column re: political PR), but Tina didn’t.

Instead, she dodged, and said she supported a stalled effort to pass a state voting rights act, which is presumably a fine thing, but had little to do with the original question.

Asked again, Podlodowski dodged again, not so much splitting a hair as veering off a cliff to avoid a straight answer. Mercifully, she came back the following day (after checking with party leaders perhaps?) with a clear response: “Dems have outgrown caucus, must consider primary.”